PRIAM

[Greek heroic] Priam was the son of Laomedon and was the king of Troy. He became king after Laomedon and all of Priam's brothers were killed by Heracles in the first sack of Troy. Priam himself was the father, by his wife Hecuba and other women, of fifty sons and many daughters, including Hector, Paris, and Cassandra. He unsuccessfully defended his city during the Trojan War, at the end of which Troy was sacked a second time and was finally destroyed. During the Trojan War, Priam's son Hector was killed by the Greek hero Achilles. In one of the most moving scenes of the Iliad, Priam courageously entered the Greek camp by night and pleaded with Achilles to return Hector's body for burial. Priam himself was finally killed by Achilles' son, Neoptolemus, upon an altar of Zeus in the center of Troy.